MASTER OF SCIENCE

The faculty in the Department of Recreation Management and Tourism offer a program leading to the M.S. degree in Recreation.

The M.S. degree program prepares students to analyze and understand critical topics and issues pertinent to the field of leisure and recreation.

Students choose between two academic options: the thesis option or the professional option.

Admission. Students applying to the M.S. program must have achieved a GPA of 3.00 or the equivalent in the last two years of work leading to the bachelor’s degree. Applicants should submit their application, application fee, and all undergraduate transcripts to the Graduate College before February 15. To be considered for fall admission, candidates must have their Graduate Record Examination (or Miller’s Analogy Test) scores, a statement of professional and academic goals, and three letters of recommendation sent to the Department of Recreation Management and Tourism by February 15. Only complete application files are reviewed or considered for admission. Students without undergraduate academic work in the recreation/tourism disciplines will be required to take six semester hours of deficiency course work in addition to the M.S. degree requirements. Deficiency course work may be taken in conjunction with M.S. degree classes.

Program of Study. Completion of the M.S. degree in Recreation on the average requires approximately two years of study. Students may select a thesis or professional option. The thesis option is a research-oriented degree and is recommended for students planning to continue graduate studies beyond the master’s degree. The professional option is intended for students seeking additional knowledge and expertise relevant to professional career development. Advising and direction in both options are under the direct supervision of an assigned faculty member.

Program Requirements: Thesis Option. The thesis option consists of a minimum of 30 semester hours. The 30 semester hours include six hours of thesis (REC 599), which must be defended in an oral examination before a supervisory committee of at least three faculty members, one of which resides in another department.

Program Requirements: Professional Option. The professional option consists of 30 semester hours including six hours of practicum (REC 580). The purpose of the Practicum is to provide graduate students with in-depth agency-based professional experiences. The student committee will consist of one department faculty member and one community/agency professional. At the end of the Practicum, the student is required to submit a written description and analysis of the project as well as present the results to the committee.

Foreign Language Requirements. None.

Thesis Requirements. A thesis is an option.

Final Examinations. A final oral examination in defense of the thesis or a practicum is required.

RESEARCH ACTIVITY

The study of leisure, recreation, and tourism is a multidisciplinary field of research, scholarship, and program development. Recent scholarly activity of departmental faculty and students reflect this approach. Major research areas include the following: international travel and tourism; philosophy of leisure; recreation resource planning; social and psychological analyses of leisure behavior; leisure and youth development; travel and tourism policy and planning; urban recreation administration; outdoor recreation and wilderness management; cross-cultural analysis of play and leisure; gender differences in leisure behavior patterns; nonprofit agency leadership/management.

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